65 percent support probe of ex-Presidents
By Kim Hyo-jin
Two out of three South Koreans support investigations into the suspicions surrounding former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, according to a poll released Monday.
A Realmeter poll, conducted with 511 respondents on Friday, showed that 65 percent of them backed the Moon Jae-in government’s ongoing move to look into alleged irregularities under the Lee and Park administrations, described as a campaign to “eradicate deep-rooted evils.”
By contrast, only 26.3 percent of the respondents opposed the investigation, seeing it as “political retaliation” against the former conservative presidents.
The poll indicated that a majority of the people are backing the Moon Jae-in government’s move to look into evil practices under the former conservative governments.
President Moon has pushed for political reform, a campaign pledge laid bare by the corruption scandal that brought down his predecessor Park.
In such a move, internal reform panels of government offices and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) have unveiled multiple documents showing that the Lee administration attempted to control the media; conducted surveillance on civilians and political rivals; ran a blacklist of cultural figures deemed critical of the government; and launched online smear campaigns against opposition candidates.
It led the prosecution to expand its investigation into top officials of the Lee administration, on top of the ongoing probe into allegations of corruption and irregularities under the Park administration.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and Lee’s former aides have refuted the allegations, saying the Moon Jae-in government is conducting political retaliation.
The LKP is seeking to reinvestigate bribery allegations surrounding former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun as part of its strategy to defend the conservative Lee and Park governments. It filed a complaint with the prosecution over the suspicion, Friday.
According to Realmeter, the respondents in all provincial districts showed the majority supports the Moon government’s move, regardless of their political orientations. The percentage of supporters reached 65.1 percent even in the traditionally conservative home turf of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province.
The poll showed that 83.5 percent of those who said they are LKP supporters replied that the Moon government’s move is political retaliation while 92.9 percent of the DPK supporters, 74.6 percent of the progressive opposition Justice Party supporters, and 51.9 percent of the liberal opposition People’s Party supporters said it is a task to clear up social ills.